the tree of 2007
dixie’s new xmas collar
Our decorations look almost exactly as they did last year with the exception of the tree which is a Noble Fir this year. If you’d like a refresher, look here.
Also, Dixie got a new Christmas collar for those days when her xmas sweater is just too warm.
Merry Christmas!
Beth here.
Merideth and I have not had more than a trickle of cold water from our kitchen sink for the past three years. There was plenty of hot water, but cold? For cold water, one had to visit the bathroom sink or the hose. We tried everything we could think of, namely checking to make sure the cold water cutoff was open, but came up with a blank and learned to like lukewarm drinking water for lack of plumber-calling inclination.
We’re not proud of our poor problem-solving skills, but there just seemed to be bigger things to do. We had to fix windows, level stairs, landscape the yard, and watch Project Runway.
When my dad last visited from Colorado in October, he and I had a lively “discussion” about the cause of the no cold water situation. His contention was that the faucet was broken. Mine was that it was something in the pipes, an argument based solely on the fact that I replaced the faucet 2 1/2 years ago, and there wasn’t cold water on the old one, either.
Spurred on by my need to prove my father wrong, I got under the sink last weekend to stare at the pipes. I did the only thing I really know how to do: I turned off the cold water and unscrewed the connection to the faucet. For want of anything else to do, I looked at the connection. There was a rock in it. I removed the rock and put everything back together. We have cold water now. This may be the only house project that was easier than I thought it would be, and that just made my week.
Also, I’m all warm and fuzzy with smugness because my dad was wrong.
pressure washed and ready for paint
planted wall
The front retaining walls have not been pretty for awhile. They do however hold back the hillside and since our house sits on top of that hill, I’m gonna go ahead and call that one little heroic set of walls. All that hard wall-work deserved a little pampering so I took the pressure washer (seriously, buy one) and gave it a little spa time, blowing off all the peeling paint and discovering in the process that the side retaining walls and the front ones had been poured at different times and by people with VASTLY different ideas of the definition of “quality work.”
We waffled on what color to paint the walls and ultimately decided on a basic brown, both to hide the inevitable city grime and to kind of downplay the wall altogether. We don’t want to look like a fortified battlement after all.
Once the paint went on, Beth planted the narrow beds between them and the sidewalks with Bay-native and drought-tolerant species. Oh they’re tiny now, but as they fill in they’ll further hide the wall and contribute to the lovely “wild native hillside” thing we have going on.
There was an article in Newsweek yesterday with more details for those of you who are curious (Lisa).
creepy turnips
pumpkin and turnips
Last year I read some little story about the history of Halloween and learned that the original Jack ‘o Lanterns were made out of turnips. As turnips are disgusting, I felt really good about the idea of disfiguring them and jamming little candles in their heads. Turns out when you carve them out and light them up, you can see all this grainy detail on their skins. I love it and will definitely be butchering them again next year. Perhaps I’ll do a total cannibal/shrunken head theme.
To compliment the heads, Beth carved a pumpkin into a snake-like thing complete with forky tounge. Snake AND shrunken heads? Maybe we could have a “Horrors of the Fictional Amazon” theme next year. Lots of bones, pith helmets, and cauldrons.
steampunk computer
steampunk keyboard
Ok so what’s “steampunk” you ask. Very basically, it’s an aesthetic derrived from a literary genre: Victorian SciFi/Fantasy. Think HG Wells and Jules Verne (or for you comic geeks Girl Genius). It fantasizes what technology would look like if developed by adventurist-scientists in the late 1800s and its icons feature brass, wood, knobs, and, of course, steam.
It being Halloween, a lot of steampunk costume ideas are popping up in the stuff (blogs) I read. (I love the mechanical style of it and in my fantasy where Orange County Choppers builds me a bike, it’s steampunk.) That got me thinking about Steampunk Workshop (featured in Wired this year) and Greg at Petch House. I think these 2 entities might be a match made in heaven and this modified monitor and keyboard totally looks like a piece of awesomeness Greg would build.
So while this is in no way meant to pressure Big G, or any other of you Victorian restorers, I just want to say that it’ll rain or snow soon; or just get too cold to work on your siding; or your house projects will end altogether. When that happens, steampunk!!
I know you think I’ve been slacking. Really, though, I’ve just been blog slacking. Blacking. Sbloking. Sum’in like that. Because really we’ve been…ok so you know the giant house list? (Ours is in Excel because, well, you just have to know Beth.) Anyway, so we’ve been making our way through it ticking off as many items as possible. This, my friends, does not make for interesting blogging. It makes for entries like “Today I painted the back door. Not suprisingly the black dog’s tail is now white.” or “Beth tightened the door knob in the bedroom. She is master of the…um…screwdriver.” Not exactly thrilling stuff.
But, I have also been working on carrying the saltillo tile we laid on the lower steps and landing up the second set of steps to the patio. It’s this close to finished! My game has been rain-delayed for a few days so now I’m just waiting for a stretch of sun so I can seal and then slip-guard the tile. Then I can officially retitle “Porch Phase I Complete” with an exciting new Roman numeral: II.
Beth here.
As a general rule, I’m proud of the work that Merideth and I have done on the house. We’ve accomplished things that are pretty awesome for two people who didn’t have a clue going in, and we continue to work well at solving complex problems when working on the house.
Which is why it’s so annoying when I completely jack up an easy-peasy project.
A year ago, Merideth and I had our bathtub refinished for not cheap. At that time, we got a stern lecture from the Miracle Method people about how, with our refinished tub, we were not to use bleach, as it would ruin the finish. Fine. We informed the housekeeper and moved on. Sadly, though, with the lack of bleach in our fairly humid climate, some mold set in along the caulk line where tub meets wall. Gross.
So I decided this weekend to re-do the caulk line. First, I put on the caulk softener and waited the two hours before I could scrape it off. I have done this before on the bathtub pre-finish, so thought nothing of it until the two hours had passed and I went in to notice that I HAD RUINED THE BATHTUB’S FINISH. So now, all along the caulk line, there is brown bathtub peeking through brilliant white finish. Let me assure you that it does NOT look better than a little mold. Oh, and the caulk was not softened or easily removed. So I had to take it all out with a razor blade. Good times. Oh, and lest I feel the least bit smart after all this, the caulk softener instructions clearly state that it should not be used on refinished bathtubs, which of course I read AFTER all of this. Stupid clear directions that I can’t even blame.
With no other recourse, I re-caulked with the worst caulk job you’ve ever seen as I was trying to extend the caulk line to cover the damaged areas (didn’t work), and occasionally beating my head against the shower wall because I was so annoyed with myself. Seriously. I won’t even show pictures of the damage because I don’t want anyone to see what I did with the caulk.
I haven’t called the Miracle Method people yet to see if there’s any fixing it, mainly because I don’t want to have the conversation where I admit how dumb I am and find out how much my stupidity is going to cost. In the meantime, I am keeping the shower curtain closed, and everyone in my household is pretending that they see no issues.
At least there’s no mold now, right?
elastomerically coated roof
Well no. It’s not. Not even close. But it is blindingly white in manner of snow. Also in manner of horrible stretchy pants worn by the hooker down on High Street. I KID! not really.
The reflective elastomeric coating is all but complete. I have to wait a couple of weeks for a patched spot on the porch roof to cure before I can coat it but that is ALL that remains of the roof project. (rah, frackin, rah)
To make matters awesome, we immediately noticed a difference in the interior temperature with the new white roof. I would say the house stays 10 degrees cooler because of it. This rocks hard here in the land of no air conditioning. While you might say, “That’s great for the summer but won’t you be sad when winter rolls around and you want that sunny heat warming up the house?” Well the answer, Mr./Ms. Negative, is no. Because here in the Bay Area there is none of this “sun in winter” concept you may be thinking of. We have the rainy season–winter–and the not-rainy season–summer. So when chilly weather rolls around, it’s not like we’ll be missing out on any solary type benefits. So we’ll be as chilly as ever bundled up in our fleece blankets in front of the Christmas episodes of Heroes and The Office.
Also, the 3 year old across the street told me I missed a spot. He was right. I’ve fixed it.
roof in progress
sorta side of roof
Do you think I’ll ever write a post in which I discuss some project that came together quickly, easily and was just a dance party of fun to execute? Or will I always be talking about the latest thing that is, how you say, sucking my life away? Today, kids, we’re going to talk about roofing and what I’d hoped would be a fairly short-lived, if sucky, project.
The gist: The roof is fine but could use a few little touch-ups here and there. Primarily, I wanted to get a new reflective elastomeric coating on the roof to help protect it and to encourage the sun to stop making my living room into what felt like a giant bread machine with sofa. So great. Did my research. Bought my stuff. Headed to roof. But it’s not just about the final coat. Oh no. There was…prep work. And AND, there were multi-step applications. Yes. And now I’ve been sweeping, spraying, rollering, brushing, brooming, and swabing for many, many hours. And I’m not done.
In the end, it’ll be one of those things no one ever sees but I will know that the shiny, sugary white reflective coating is there. And also, dude, the view of the bay from our roof is spectacular. Work aside, it’s been fairly lovely up there. Hey you have to look on the elastomerically-bright-white side.
